“Oh,” Lorylyn said, giving Hilton a small smile but not sounding too amused.
Todd and Bennett showed up around ten with Dirk and Hillary. Jill had started to worry they weren’t coming at all.
“Where were you guys?” she asked Hillary.
“Oh, we were just all hanging out at Dirk’s.”
“Oh.” Jill knew it was stupid to feel left out, but she was still bummed she hadn’t been invited, because she could’ve been hanging out with Todd.
***
By about 11:30, the party was shaping up to be pretty uneventful. Brady hadn’t come after all, and Lorylyn was more confused than ever. Everyone was just standing or sitting around, talking in groups. They hadn’t played spin the bottle either.
Jill was relieved to see Blake and Todd weren’t hanging out together at all. One day she’d been going to the bathroom right near the end of the period they had world history together, and she’d walked by their classroom and seen them gathered by the door with a couple other people, talking and laughing. The jealousy had been indescribable. But tonight she hadn’t even seen them talk once. Blake was hanging out with Sam and Cassidy and Kat and Brooke and Landon, and Todd was in the garage. The only interesting thing happening was Brooke hanging all over Landon.
“Maybe she finally moved on,” Jill whispered to Hilton, nodding in Brooke’s direction. Landon had his arm around her neck and she was looking up at him and laughing, her brown ponytail shining in the light.
“Yeah, of course she had to pick him,” Hilton whispered back dryly.
“What, you don’t still like him, do you?!” Reed was in the bathroom.
“Not really.” Hilton shrugged. “But still, you know, of all the guys!”
Jill’s eyes were still on Brooke and Landon when Landon looked up and raised his plastic cup toward the middle of the room. “All right, everybody!” he yelled, his arm still around Brooke’s neck. “Since this is a Valentine’s Day party, and it’s almost midnight, I think in the true spirit of Valentine’s Day we should play spin the bottle!”
Brooke had a huge smile on her face, and Jill was sure it’d been her idea. At least there was no chance of her kissing Brady tonight!
As several of the partygoers followed Brooke and Landon to the garage, the phone rang in the house. Landon frowned and then lifted his eyebrows. “Oh, shit, I forgot!” he said, turning back toward the kitchen to go answer it. Brooke no longer looked happy.
Everyone else continued out to the garage and formed a circle. Tonight there were several large pieces of carpet to sit on, as though Landon, or maybe Brooke, had thought of spin the bottle in advance. Landon and Brooke came out shortly behind everyone else. Landon was carrying an empty beer bottle and didn’t look concerned about anything, but Brooke’s arms were folded across her chest, and she looked pissed. Jill wondered what was going on.
Landon didn’t say anything about the phone call; he just sat down, tilted up his hat and put it back on his head, and placed the bottle in the center. “All right, should I go first? Okay, I’m going first.” He gave the bottle a firm spin, and the game was underway.
***
Twenty-five minutes later, as Valentine’s Day officially began, it was turning out to be one of the dullest games of spin the bottle ever. Landon kept checking his watch, and Lorylyn figured he must think so too. She wondered how long they’d keep playing. She wasn’t a big fan of spin the bottle anymore. And she was so depressed Brady hadn’t come…this night sucked.
Blake Bishop had just spun when Landon jumped into the middle of the circle and put his hand over the bottle, slowing Blake’s spin and stopping the bottle so it pointed directly at Lorylyn.
Blake gave Landon a bewildered stare. Jill turned to Lorylyn, her eyes narrowed in confusion. But Lorylyn was even more confused than everyone else.
“Oh, it landed on Lorylyn!” Landon exclaimed, grinning like he had something up his sleeve. Lorylyn grew automatically wary. She looked over at Jill, who was now looking at Hilton, who was staring at Landon.
“But Blake and Lorylyn don’t wanna kiss each other on Valentine’s Day; they’d probably both rather kiss guys,” Landon continued. “So, Blake, why don’t you spin again, and Lorylyn, come here and maybe we can find a guy for you to kiss too.” He stood up and offered Lorylyn his hand.
She stared at him dubiously, but not knowing what else to do, finally stood up and took his hand. She saw Jill glance worriedly in Brooke’s direction and followed her gaze. Brooke had her arms folded across her chest and looked pissed. Lorylyn started to worry. What was Landon doing?! She definitely didn’t want to do anything to piss off Brooke! Blake hadn’t spun again; everyone was staring raptly at Landon and Lorylyn, wondering what the hell was going on.
Landon led Lorylyn over to the side of the garage and pushed a button on the wall. The garage door started to rise, and Lorylyn peered out toward the driveway, but it was too dark to see anything. Then Landon flipped two more switches. The garage light went off and two light poles framing the driveway flashed to life. Lorylyn’s mouth dropped open.
Right in the middle of the driveway was a huge heart shaped out of red rose petals, and inside the heart was her name, written in what looked like chocolate icing. Beyond the heart, an arrow of rose petals pointed farther down the driveway. Lorylyn looked back at Landon, half uncertain, half in awe. Landon grinned and motioned for her to follow the arrow.
Lorylyn slowly stepped into the driveway and walked around the heart, staring at it, still in shock. This was more romantic than anything she could’ve ever imagined. As she neared the point of the arrow, she could now see a small box sitting in the driveway. She knelt and picked it up, removing the lid. When she saw what was inside, happy tears welled up in her eyes, and she pressed her hand to her heart as a slow grin spread across her face. It was Brady’s class ring, with green thread wrapped around it to make it smaller.
There was a piece of paper underneath the ring. As Lorylyn lifted the ring out of the box so she could get the paper, she’d completely forgotten about everyone in the garage watching. She was lost in her own world.
She unfolded the small piece of paper and read it.
Will you be my Valentine?
Love, Brady
She grinned and pressed the paper to her heart, still holding the ring and the box in her other hand and looking down but not even seeing the ground. All of a sudden she felt a hand on hers and looked up to see Brady staring down at her, his dark passionate eyes pleading with hers.
Lorylyn’s grin widened into a big, silly smile. “Of course I’ll be your Valentine!” She giggled and reached up to throw her arms around him, hugging him as tightly as she could. His arms encircled her waist, and she sighed contentedly. “Thank you, Brady,” she whispered as she clung to him, feeling truly happy for the first time since Landon’s New Year’s party.
chapter 15) you’re so lucky...
The next morning when Hilton’s mom dropped Jill and Lorylyn off at the school at 5:20, Lorylyn was exhausted but elated. Jill, on the other hand, was feeling kind of bummed and irritated. Not only was she super tired, but it was Valentine’s Day and she didn’t have a date for tonight, and nothing exciting had happened with Todd last night at Landon’s. Ever since that day she and Todd had skipped SRT, Jill realized she had started measuring each day as good or bad based largely on whether it had been a good or bad day with Todd. They hadn’t skipped SRT again, but she eagerly awaited their classes together or a chance run-in with him in lunch or the hallway, and if for some reason they didn’t talk very much one day, Jill went home feeling unfulfilled and depressed. She knew it was a bad habit to get into, but she couldn’t help it. She thought about him constantly, and every night at home she regaled her mom and Winnie with stories about what funny and cute things he had said or done that day.
As Jill and Lorylyn dragged themselves up the steps onto the bus, rubbing their eyes and yawning, someone called out from the back seat. “Isn’t it a be
autiful morning, girls?”
Jill and Lorylyn looked up to see Lindy grinning at them. Lorylyn grinned back happily, still thinking about Brady’s surprise last night, and Jill managed a small smile, even though she didn’t feel it. It was going to be a long day.
***
The meet actually wasn’t too bad; the girls had a lot of down time between events, and they ate grapes and brownies and colored with crayons and coloring books one of the seniors had brought. The bad part for Jill was when everyone shared their Valentine’s Day plans. Jill remained silent while most of the other girls took turns sharing.
“Lorylyn’s got a hot date, I bet,” Lindy said, flashing Lorylyn another knowing grin.
“With who?” asked another freshman girl.
“Brady,” Lorylyn said with a goofy smile, ducking her head and giggling.
“Oh, are you back together with him?! You’re so lucky! He’s so hot!”
“Yeah, tell them what he did for you!” Lindy encouraged, and all the girls oohed and aahed as Lorylyn told the story, leaving out that it had happened at Landon’s party two hours after curfew last night. Even the senior girls were impressed, and one of them said she wished a guy would do something that sweet for her. Lorylyn couldn’t stop smiling.
“What about you, Jill?” someone asked. “Do you have a date tonight?”
“No,” Jill said uncomfortably.
“Oh, what happened to your boyfriend? That little basketball player?”
“We broke up awhile ago.”
“Oh, that’s too bad.”
“Yeah, it’s not really a big deal. He was annoying.”
All the girls laughed, then the conversation moved on. At least they hadn’t made a big deal out of her not having a date. What a depressing day in general though. Jill decided she hated Valentine’s Day.
chapter 16) maybe if you had a boyfriend you’d understand
“I’m SO excited!” Hillary declared happily a little over a month later as she climbed into the Sherers’ minivan and dropped her duffel bag on the floor in front of her. She glanced back to make sure Winnie and Aaron were in, then slammed the door shut.
“Me too!” Jill giggled.
“I love skipping school the last day before spring break!” Hillary said. It was Thursday afternoon. “I’ve always felt so bad for everybody who has to go. Well actually, I don’t feel bad for them! Haha, sucks to be you all!” she said loudly, pretending to address everyone who was still in school.
Jill laughed. “Tomorrow at this time we’ll be on the beach!”
“Yeah, boy-watching!” Hillary grinned. “What Dirk doesn’t know won’t hurt him!”
Jill’s dad climbed into the driver’s seat and pushed the garage door opener. As the garage door slid shut and they backed out of the driveway, Jill grinned back at Hillary in anticipation. Every year since they’d met in preschool, Hillary had come with Jill’s family to Fort Myers Beach, Florida for spring break. The Sherers always rented the same condo from Jill’s dad’s college roommate, who owned several condominiums all over Florida. Jill knew Fort Myers Beach so well she considered it her second home, as well as her favorite place in the world. She loved the white sand, the open, airy condo with the balcony overlooking the beach, the pool where she’d learned to do back dives and flips off the side before they’d ever had a pool at home, the shops at Times Square, the Sky Bridge connecting the mainland to Estero Island, from the top of which their condo building was visible, the pelicans on the pier, everything! And she was looking forward to this spring break even more than usual, because finally she’d have some time alone with Hillary, without Dirk around! Maybe they could finally recapture their former closeness.
***
It was working, somewhat. On Saturday night, in their bedroom in the condo, Jill and Hillary stayed up until almost three watching TV and talking.
“So how far did you and Bennett go?” Hillary asked with a sly smile.
Jill shook her head and wrinkled her nose. “All I did was make out with him.”
“Are you serious?” Hillary asked in surprise. “That’s no fun!”
Jill wrinkled her nose again. “I never wanted to do anything else!”
“Really? You’re crazy! You should find a new guy so you can do other stuff. It’s great.” She grinned at Jill. “Like...Todd maybe?”
Jill waved the idea away. “So what all have you and Dirk done?” she asked eagerly. She’d been dying to know, and Hillary had created the perfect opening for her to ask.
“Well, not that much really. I’d say like halfway between second and third base.”
Jill frowned. “What do you mean, halfway?” From what she’d heard from people in junior high, the four bases were also sometimes called the four Fs: French kiss (first base), Feel up (second base), Finger/Feel (third base), and of course Fuck (home). Jill couldn’t imagine exactly what would be halfway between Dirk feeling Hillary up, and him fingering her or her feeling his...thing.
“Like, you know, over the pants,” Hillary replied.
“So you mean, like, you’ve felt his...you know...through his pants?”
Hillary giggled. “Oh, yeah. More than once.” She lowered her voice and whispered gleefully, “And it totally gave him a boner too!”
Jill raised her eyebrows in shock. She wondered what that felt like or how Hillary had known he’d had one. She felt stupid asking though. It was probably a really stupid question with a totally obvious answer. She felt so inexperienced and light years behind Hillary.
“And he’s done it to me too, over the pants, you know,” she continued. “Oh my gosh, Jill, it feels so good!”
“Really?” Jill asked, wondering how it could feel that good just to have a guy put his hand there. There had to be more to it. “I’m so jealous!” she blurted out truthfully. “I wish I had a boyfriend so I could try it all!”
Hillary grinned at her. “Yeah, it’s awesome. We’ll probably do more soon. You so have to get a boyfriend.”
Yeah, Jill thought dryly. Like it’s that easy.
***
Even though Jill was glad she and Hillary had a lot of time to talk and bond and Hillary had finally told her a lot about Dirk, Jill still felt a huge gap between them, mainly because of Hillary’s level of sexual experience. And it annoyed her how Dirk called Hillary at the condo every single afternoon. Hillary went on and on about how much she missed him, and sometimes they talked for almost an hour! Hillary always shut herself in the bedroom when he called and came out afterward trying to hide a smile, as though they’d been talking about something secretive. Probably something sexual, Jill thought, annoyed. And his calls put a constraint on the whole day, because Hillary, who’d always stayed out on the beach till six in the evening or so, now went in at five every day to wait for his call, so she and Jill had to be back from walking the beach or playing volleyball or whatever they were doing by five.
They played volleyball two buildings down from their own; one day they’d been walking by on the beach and some cute guys had called them over and asked them to play. So they had, and now they went back every day. Jill really liked one of the guys, Jon. He was really tan with black hair and piercing blue eyes, and he was energetic and fun. Hillary knew Jill thought he was hot and kept encouraging her to invite him and one of his friends to have dinner one night, but Jill was too shy.
On Thursday morning Jill and Hillary played volleyball for almost three hours, and then they went swimming with Jon and his friends in the pool at Jill’s condo. It was really fun, but Jill’s parents were at the pool too, so she had to warn the boys ahead of time not to cuss or talk about anything bad, and she felt like they probably thought she was a big baby.
When the boys left the pool, Jill and Hillary walked out to the beach with them.
“Hey,” Jon said. “My parents are going out tonight and staying at their friends’, so I think we’re gonna have a little party at our place, if you guys wanna come over. If you can get away from your pare
nts, that is,” he added mockingly, and Jill felt her face grow red.
“Don’t worry,” Hillary said with a light laugh. “We’ll be there.”
***
“Hey,” Hillary said around 5:30 when Jill came into the bedroom after taking her shower. Hillary was sitting on the double bed reading a magazine.
“Yeah?” Jill asked as she unwrapped the towel from her head and shook her hair out.
“Um, Dirk called, but he couldn’t talk ‘cause they have a baseball scrimmage tonight. Coach Lever just told them this morning at practice that he added it to the schedule. Like, it’s for varsity and JV. So he’s gonna call back later, like around ten. So I don’t think I’m gonna go to Jon and Alec’s.”
Jill’s mouth dropped open and she stared at Hillary, shocked and angry. “What?! You’re not going? Why can’t we just go after you talk to Dirk?”
“Yeah, right, Jill, like your parents are gonna let us go out ‘shopping’ at 10:30 or eleven at night! That’ll never work. But I don’t see why it’s a big deal if I don’t go. You can still go.”
“I can’t go by myself! They won’t let me go out ‘shopping’ by myself either!”
“Yeah they will! I mean, I’ll go with you earlier and we can shop and then when you go to the party I’ll come back here and say I didn’t feel good but you wanted to keep shopping for a little while. They won’t care.” Hillary flipped the page in her magazine.
Jill stared, so mad she couldn’t find any words. She couldn’t believe Hillary was letting her down like this, when Hill knew how much she liked Jon. “I’m not going by myself!” she finally fumed.
Hillary gave her an exasperated look. “You’re being a baby, Jill.”
“I am not! Why can’t you just not talk to Dirk tonight? Come on, Hill, you know how much I wanna go!”
“That’s what I’m saying. You can STILL GO!” Hillary snapped. “Why are you so afraid to go by yourself?! And I can’t miss Dirk’s phone call ‘cause I’m at a party with other guys! That’d go over real well! Plus, I don’t wanna miss his phone call! Maybe if you had a boyfriend you’d understand!” She shook her head in annoyance and flopped back against the pillow to look at her magazine.